Wild Horses Should be Listed and Protected under the Endangered Species ActAction Alert from All-Creatures.org

FROM

ACTION

Friends of Animals (FoA) and
The Cloud Foundation have filed a petition
with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list North American wild horses
on public lands as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act
(ESA) since the Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act (WHBA), which was
passed in 1971, has failed to protect our wild horses.

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Six states have
already lost their wild horse populations - Missouri, Iowa, Arkansas, Texas,
Oklahoma and Kansas.

Contact Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and tell her wild
horses on public lands should be listed and protected under the Endangered
Species Act.

INFORMATION / TALKING POINTS

June 10, 2014 — Friends of Animals (FoA) and The Cloud Foundation have
filed a petition with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list North
American wild horses on public lands as threatened or endangered under the
Endangered Species Act (ESA) since the Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act
(WHBA), which was passed in 1971, has failed to protect our wild horses. Six
states have already lost their wild horse populations—Missouri, Iowa,
Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas.

“Misclassification of wild horses as a non-native species is politically,
not scientifically driven,” said Ginger Kathrens, executive director of The
Cloud Foundation. “Wild horses are severely endangered but without
recognition of current scientific evidence of their native status, they
could become extinct.”

In the early 1900s, two to five million wild horses freely roamed across
America, says Jenni Barnes, staff attorney, FoA’s Wildlife Law Program.

“Now there are less than 35,000 on public lands, where they are supposed
to be protected,” Barnes said. “The petition states that these few remaining
horses are divided into even smaller herds, whose populations are so low
that they are susceptible to being wiped out completely by a chance event or
change in the environment. Instead of protecting these horses, or just
leaving them alone, a government agency, the Bureau of Land Management
(BLM), plans to remove even more horses from the range with expensive and
cruel tactics, such as helicopter driving.”

BLM is obligated, under WHBA, to protect wild free-roaming horses as an
“integral part of the natural system of public lands.” BLM claims that wild
horses need to be removed from public lands to protect rangeland health.
However the vast majority of public lands is open to livestock grazing,
which causes far more damage to the land.

“The tragedy of horse roundups exists because the BLM appears devoted to
turning arid western public lands into feedlots for cows and sheep to
appease cattle producers,” said Priscilla Feral, president of FoA. “Friends
of Animals finds this morally and ecologically reprehensible, as wild horses
are driven off lands to leave the bulk of water, forage and space for two
domestic animals owned by ranchers.

Most people do not realize that instead of protecting these horses, BLM
has rounded up—forcibly driven off the land and put in holding
facilities—more than 200,000 horses since the WHBA was passed. And this is
not just an issue of importance to American’s living out west.

“Everyone’s tax dollars contribute to the animal abuse caused by roundups
and fertility control,” Barnes said. “In the 2013 fiscal year, BLM spent
$4.8 million on gathers and removals and spent $46.2 million on holding
costs. A report by the National Academy of Science concluded ‘the
continuation of business-as-usual practices will be expensive and
unproductive for BLM.’”

From the holding facilities, the horses are not supposed to be sent to
slaughter. However, there have been reports that indicate that is what
happens when some of them are “adopted.” There is also mounting fear,
Friends of Animals says, that the government will start to kill horses in
holding facilities, yet another threat pushing wild horses toward
extinction.

“Every time the government restricts their habitat or takes them away
from the range, it disrupts horses’ social bonds and damages the overall
fitness of the herds,” Barnes said. “However, saving wild horses in North
America and letting them roam freely could bring balance back to our
ecosystems. For example, wild horses can reduce fire risk by eating dry
shrubs and help disperse and fertilize plant seeds through their droppings.”

Friends of Animals and The Cloud Foundation are asking their supporters
to contact Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and tell her wild horses
on public lands should be listed and protected under the ESA. She can be
reached at Department of the Interior, 1849 C Street, N.W., Washington DC
20240; 202.208.3100; [email protected]

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Send a postcard with something like: "America's wild horses on public
lands should be listed and protected under the Endangered Species Act.
Please use your power to get this protection for them as quickly as
possible. Thank you." This is just an idea. Use your own words.

If you are teaching this summer, this would be a great classroom project.
Or if you are part of a youth group or social organization, do this at your
next get together. But remember, time is of the essence!

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